The New Generation
by Ulquihimefan1
Summary: Forty Years since the Promised day, Ed and the rest of the crew have grown old and settled down, for the most part that is. However a new threat is brewing up, one that is determined to over throw the rule of Emperor Ling Yao. With the crew either indisposed or to old it's up to their grandchildren to pull it off... that is if they actually realize they are the ones to stop it.
1. Chapter 1

**Banging head into a near by wall **Why the hell do I always do this to myself?! I mean I've got a lot of story's going on already! Then my brain just one day goes "Oh want to know what would be a good story idea?" Then boom new story idea and I just have to type it out! This one was created with an idea and in just two days! **_TWO FREAKING DAYS! _**I really need to learn when to stop coming up with these... anyways this first chapter is the prologue and first chapter mixed together so hope you enjoy it... Oh and if you guys have any ideas for names of a few characters (that may or may not become important) for any of the characters that appear in this that don't already have one, feel free to let me know and I'll debate on them~

OH and I do not own any of the places or Characters That truly do belong to Fullmetal Alchemist, I only own the many, many, MANY OC's and the story line of this

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_Within the confides of a pure white space lay only a solid grey stone door and a figure sitting in front of it with the only defining feature a broad grin._

"_The time has almost come Mister Al-chem-ist~ When it does I wonder what will be traded from __**that **__girl and how the Xing boy will deal with __**his **__return~" __The figure spoke in a tone that was neither male, nor female, nor young, nor old… rather a voice mixed with that of all the mentioned voices and more._

A blond man in his late forties shot awake with sweat rolling down his face, his right arm hurting at the base just faintly.

"Ed… is something wrong?" the man's wife, a light blond haired woman with tired blue eyes questioned as she was awakened by the male blond.

"It… it's nothing just a bad dream," Ed sighed as he closed his golden colored eyes and rubbed at his temples with his left arm. He didn't have the heart to tell her… to tell Winry… Truth had found a way to speak with him once again. Before he could get back to sleep with his wife, the phone rang. Groaning Ed reached out and answered the corded phone.

"What do you want?"

"_Dad, Nina's gone into labor!" _At the sound of his eldest son's voice, mentioning his only daughter as well snapped the man awake, after all it wasn't everyday someone became a grandpa for the first time.

"Winry it's time!" Ed screamed as he jumped out of bed, with more grace then should be possible for someone his age, and rushed to get dressed.

"To go back to sleep?" Winry groaned as she tried to curl back up into bed and taking the blankets to cover herself more.

"NO! Nina's time!" That shot the woman awake. They were still mad at the man who got their 18 year old daughter pregnant out of wedlock, but by all hell they wanted to see their grandchild for the first time.

...

Meanwhile at the same time in a distant country across the harsh desert the Emperor Ling Yao was looking at a guard who carried a bundle of cloth in his arms, both had a grim expression on their faces.

"Is this?" Ling asked as he looked into the bundle, seeing a young infant, close to about a year old in age within the folds.

"Yes m'lord… the only survivor to the slaughter… and lady Lan Fan's only grandchild," The guard responded in an upset tone. The guard was the only one who knew of the intimate relationship between the emperor and his ex-bodyguard, who had passed in the line of duty protecting said emperor twenty years back, leaving behind the only evidence of their relationship… a young boy who had just been reported killed along with his wife and a good amount of other clan's men.

"I… I see…" Ling's regal tone turned soft and upset. As the emperor it was in code that he wasn't allowed to hold a relationship with his guard, nor with commoners so he had to keep his relationship with Lan Fan a secret… even after her death and the birth of their child… Ling's first and the one he will consider his true child Huang.

"M'lord… I hate to say this but… I believe the culprit behind the slaughter was Lady Song," The guard looked down, feeling ashamed that he was accusing the Emperor's first, on paper that is, wife. Ling's face darkened, knowing how the woman was exceedingly greedy to the point she would too anything to get her own child to be Ling's choice to the throne.

"Explain," Ling ordered.

"M'lord… I overheard a fellow guard talking with her one day a few months… and he told her of your relationship with Lady Lan-Fan as well as your plans of making Huang your successor when the time came. I think… she had been planning this to happen since then," the guard spoke, the child in his arms turning a bit in his grasp and making a few noises. Ling frowned greatly but gently took the child from the guard's arms and into his own.

"I'll see to this when morning comes… for now go inform Pang to prepare for a thorough investigation into the matter."

"What of the child?"

"I'll see to him for the time being alright… I need some time alone anyways." The guard then bowed to the Emperor and left in a blur, leaving the Emperor and his grandchild alone. A sad smile crossed Ling's face as he looked down to the child. His grandchild opened his eyes and for a split second Ling could have sworn he saw a flash of violet in their dark pools. In that moment a single thought crossed his mind, that then grew into what would be the child's name from that moment on.

"Let's get you comfortable… Tan-Lan."

...

"Glad you could make it dad," Ed's eldest son, Aleister, smirked at the sight of his dad's mismatched clothing. Aleister took more after Ed in looks, the only difference between the two being the fact he had his mother's eyes rather than Ed's gold ones.

"And miss the birth of my first grandchild and the terror on my future son in law's face? Not in a million years," Ed responded only to internally grin at the sound of two set's of screams, one being his daughter that made him externally cringe, the other being his soon to be son in law probably having his hand squeezed so hard the bones where at least cracking.

"She definitely has mom's grip," Aleister grinned, not being too happy about the man his sister loved himself.

"I can even vouch on that one, I had to suffer it three times," Ed laughed before he felt the familiar pain of a wrench hitting the back of his head… along with his twenty two year old son's head.

"Ed you should know not to laugh at something like that. Aleister you should know better," Winry sighed, glad that their third, and youngest child was the better behaved one of her kids.

"Sorry Winry/Mom…" The two responded.

"Hey I didn't miss anything… did I?" a younger male questioned. It was Ed and Winry's final child, Gabe. Gabe was like a mix of his parent's in terms of looks, but was the calmer one of the family.

"No… except for Mom hitting dad and I on the head again."

"Oh… then nothing new I see."

A few hours passed and the labor was done, as confirmed by both a doctor and the father, Kevin Reinhart. The family then went in to welcome the newest member as well as see the mother, Nina. The 19 year old mother looked like her mother with darker hair and eyes and she held her newborn boy.

"So what's this rascal's name going to be?" Ed laughed as he greeted his grandson. A smirk made it's way onto his daughter's face.

"Well, I was thinking we name him Roy." Ed's face paled at what was said to him.

"Absolutely not!"

"Dad he's my son I can decide what his name will be."

"I refuse to have any member of my family named after the Flame Bastard!"

"Fine then… His name is Joseph."

"Well that's not to bad then."

"Joseph Roy Reinhart~" Nina grinned from the devastated look on her father's face and the laughter from her siblings as well as her mother. Her husband to be was left confused however on just what was so bad about that name.

_**Chapter 1**_

Ed was out in the fields of his home, ensuring the yard looked good for his wife's continued job of being an Automail Engineer as well as for the customers.

"Grandpa could you move out of the way a bit?" A young brown haired boy with golden brown eyes asked, in his lap was a canvas and a paint brush in his left hand.

"Not till I get the weed first Joseph," Ed sighed at his grandson. He learned that when the boy turned 8 he had an instant love for painting… one he became a little to passionate about when he turned ten and painted a mural on the mid fifty year old man's walls.

"But grandpa! I have to get a better look at the marigolds that your head are blocking out!" Joseph protested. Ed sighed and rubbed at his temples a bit from the stubborn 12 year old.

"Fine but only for a bit, your grandmother and uncle are going to be opening shop soon," Ed complied and moved to work on a different section of the lawn. Feeling satisfied with his new view the boy dipped his brush into the yellow paint before mixing it a little with a bit of brown to add to the canvas. As soon as the brush touched the canvas a small body latched onto his back and caused his arm to jerk a bit and mess up his careful painting.

"Found you brother~!" A little girl voice chirped, causing the boy to turn slowly with anger in his gold eyes at a short blond haired girl who was giggling innocently.

"Maria… what have I said… about messing with me and my paintings?" Joseph asked slowly to his nine year old sister who looked at him with mischievous blue eyes.

"You said I wasn't allowed to poke you or take the canvas from you~ You never said I couldn't hug you~" Maria chirped at her older brother, whose temper was slowly raising. The young girl giggled before turning on her heels and running off with her angered older brother right on her heels.

"GET BACK HERE YOU LITTLE IMP!"

"HEHEHE, Can't catch me slow poke!"

Meanwhile inside the house Gabe and Winry where getting the shop ready when they heard the two kid's yelling and the sound of their footsteps leaving the porch.

"Looks like their at it again…" Gabe sighed as Winry shook her head.

"Reminds me of your siblings when they were younger…" Winry sighed as she thought back to her own children running around with Aleister taking most after his dad in terms of temper and looks, while Nina took after her in looks, but her father's short stature at the time, while Gabe was the calmest of her children and also of the smaller stature.

"Yes but they never called each other demon like terms," Gabe stated as he polished a few of his tools just to insure they would work correctly and wouldn't have much rust or wear on them.

Back outside Ed turned to see his grandkids chasing each other once again and sighed deeply.

"NO RUNNING OFF TO FAR OR TRYING TO KILL EACH OTHER!" Ed yelled at the two children that continued running around anyways. The elderly man shook his head and rubbed a hand through his silvering hair. "Kids these days…"

...

In the confines of a large regal study room Ling was renewing the treaty between Xing and Amestris, along with looking over a few doctrines when he paused in his work and sighed as he shifted his body just slightly as a small figure launched right at him… only to miss him by five inches.

"DAMN IT!" the boy cursed as he hit the ground and a corner of the wall hard.

"You were off your aim again Tan-Lan," Ling smirked at the thirteen year old's snarl.

"Because you moved old fart!" Tan-Lan hissed as he rubbed at his sore shoulder. Tan-Lan had a similar face structure to Ling's own, but was softer like his birthmother's and he had slightly squinted eyes that left his dark irises visible more than Ling's own.

"You were still five inches to the left though," Ling laughed.

"Shut up! One of these days I will get the drop on you and take you down!" Tan-Lan announced as he pointed a finger at the Emperor who continued to sit in his seat with a smile on his face. This was just a daily thing for the two since the moment Tan-Lan found out, and Ling had announced it, that he was Ling's choice to be the next emperor and therefore be treated like the other Prince's and Princesses, but unlike the others held a closer relationship to the old man and wasn't the closest in blood to him like the other ones.

"Before that you need to work on your aim first," Ling chimed, always encouraging his grandson's antics as they made for a good form of training to the young prince. Needless to say the same couldn't be said about how everyone else feels about the young Prince's antics.

"M'LORD!" A guard yelled while running into the study, looking out of breath causing both Ling and Tan-Lan to quirk a brow at the guard.

"Is something wrong Kun-Lao?" Ling questioned before Tan-Lan immediately took on a guilty look and seemed to look around for an exit.

"The young Prince disappeared from the dining hall the second everyone looked to greet the other Prince's and Princesses, he also stole most of the food from the table to make matters worst!" Kun-Lao explained still panting but sending a short sided glare to the crowned Prince, who was looking into a corner and whistling like nothing was wrong.

"Tan-Lan…" Ling spoke, taking up a stern expression with the young teen. "Did you at least make sure to save some for me?" Kun-Lao's face turned from one of expectation to one of disbelief as he had honestly thought the Emperor would scold the child for doing such acts.

"Actually… I saved a few things… mostly the steamed bread though. Hey don't give me that look old man, I saved at least some of that for you!"

"Yeah well if you're going to steal food at least save some of the roasted duck for your grandfather!"

"Well maybe I did but got hungry on the way over."

"Still should have saved some for me. No dessert for you for this!"

"WHA?! You can't do that!"

"But I did… unless you happen to actually haave some of the roasted duck~?"

"Ugh!" Tan-Lan groaned before he pulled out a tied up cloth bag of the smuggled food, and low and behold there was some of the mentioned meat within. Ling grinned at the amount of food and turned to the flabbergasted guard.

"You can leave now Kun-Lao. We're just going to have our lunch then get on with our days," at the words of the Emperor the guard collected himself as best he could with a bow before leaving the two to their own devices. "You wanna sneak some desert from the kitchen with me when we're done?"

"Do you even need to ask?"

...

It was a typical day at the Automail shop for Gabe and Winry when a familiar voice came from the doorway.

"Hey Winry is Brother home?"

"Dad's out in town with Nina getting some groceries uncle!" Gabe called out as he turned a page in his book.

"Uncle Al!" Joseph and Maria cried out and came running over to greet their Great-Uncle Al, only to get a better surprise of seeing their cousin Ya-Ting. Ya-Ting was a 14 year old Xingese girl as well as Al and Mei's adopted daughter.

"Cousin Ya-Ting, hey!" Maria grinned as she ran up and hugged the older girl, who smiled and returned the favor.

"Nice to see you again as well Maria," Ya-Ting's dark eyes then met with Joseph's golden ones as she smiled. "You as well Joseph, how goes your paintings?"

"They would be going well…. if Maria would stop messing them up," Joseph growled the last part as the blond haired girl grinned while rocking back and forth on her heels.

"All I do is give my big brother some of my love~"

"I see… Maria perhaps it's best if you let your brother actually do his work alone," Ya-Ting suggested getting a frown from the blond and a triumphant grin from the brown haired child.

"She's got a point Maria," Al laughed. "Painting takes time and focus which he can't do if you keep bothering him."

"But he's sooo boring when he's doing that!" Al couldn't help but sigh at the nine year old.

"Well since he's doing something he liked why don't you find something you would like to do instead?" Al asked as Ya-Ting took this time to get Joseph out of the area and just talk for a bit.

"But Grandpa, mom and dad both refuse to have me do, or even practice what I wanna do…"

"Oh and what's that?"

"Well I wanna go on military adventures like you and Grandpa used to!" Al paled at this exclamation, old memories of those times crossing through his mind and he shudders a bit from it.

"Well you're a little too young for things like that-"

"But from what I heard you two were not that much older yourselves! I wanna go on some as well!"

"Maria… We were young, stupid and desperate then, you're just young… to young in fact," Al reasoned only to get the blond girl pouting with a defiant glare in her eyes.

"Maria, that's enough," Winry scolded as she finally came down the stairs, having been upstairs tidying the place up when Al came in. Maria turned to her grandmother with the childish glare, and pout still on her face.

"But Jo-Jo get's to do what he want's so why can't I?!" the young girl cried, calling her brother by his old nickname she used to say because she was to young to actually pronounce Joseph right.

"Because his is less dangerous and less likely to get himself killed, that's why," Winry sighed at the young girl's stubbornness after having to explain why they don't want her following her dreams at such a young age. If the girl was as stubborn as Ed was… then there was no way to stop her should she find a way to achieve her dreams.

...

Tan-Lan looked over the palace walls from his window in his room. The prince was thinking over what his plan to finally beat his grandfather at least once would be as he munched on a fruit he happened to pick up when passing by the kitchen.

_Before becoming an the emperor… he traveled across the sands on foot with his two guards… also my family members… went into Amestris… did something to save the world there… and found that red stone he keeps locked away in a case in his room… _Tan-Lan thought as he paused taking a bite out of his fruit. A smirk crawled across his face as he got the perfect idea to best his grandfather. The prince jumped down from his window sill to the hard floor below with a silent grace to it. Working quickly he grabbed a pack and put a few clothes in it, but saving some room so he can pack food… and his final parting gift.

...

_A dark abyss was all Ling could see around him… He knew this dream, or rather the eternal nightmare it represented to him. He was young, recently turned 16 and had been an immortal Homunculi for about more than a few months at the time… but it was all being torn away by a single blinding light, leaving only the dark abyss aside from the red sea of souls._

"_**Ling…"**_

_The familiar voice startled the Prince… no, no he didn't feel like the young teen he usually was in this type of dream. Frantically the Emperor looked around for the source of the voice, half expecting to see the familiar red soul of Greed. However there was nothing as far as the eye could see._

"_Greed?" Ling called out, feeling desperation to just hear the familiar voice again… the voice of one of his closest friends. He hadn't heard a voice like that since Lan-Fan died as he wasn't allowed to leave the palace since he became emperor and Ed rarely came to visit anymore (phones still couldn't communicate such long distances yet) and this one he hadn't heard in decades. Sadness welled his being when the voice didn't come back… and he felt that it never would again._

"_**Stop that… ya Bratty Prince…"**_

_Ling was startled to actually hear the voice once again. He continued to look around, wanting to see the face he grew accustomed to that went along with the voice._

"_Where are you?" Ling asked, and this time waited for a response, instead of flying off into sadness once again._

"_**Can't tell ya… But what I can… Tell ya is this… your grandkid is gonna… be in danger."**_

_Ling was in shock at this news. _

"_**Also… you may get… to see me again… soon."**_

"_What? When?"_

"_**Now that… is a spoiler… I can't tell you."**_

_Ling could almost feel the smirk being given from the homunculus but he really wanted to know… why his grandson was in danger and what was in in danger from?_

Before Ling could ask anymore questions he was snapped awake by the feel of a cool breeze on his face. Nearly thinking it was just Tan-Lan trying to sneak in and once again miss trying to hit him he just opened his eyes for a bit… before realizing something was very, very wrong. Throwing his blankets off he found no hide, nor hair of his grandson only the open window… and a certain chest he usually kept locked and sealed opened just slightly. The Emperor's normally squinty eyes widened as he opened the small chest to find that it's contents were gone. The Philosopher's stone… was gone.

"Oh no…" Ling hurried to the window, just in time to see a small figure leaving over the walls. "Oh NO!"

...

Tan-Lan was in a rush, feeling very accomplished and happy with himself for pulling off his plan. His last step was to hop onto the train… or at least get a horse to carry him and leave for Amestris. Though it was also the tricky part… as he had never left the palace before.

_I'll just figure it out along the way,_ The prince thought to himself with a shrug as he kept to hiding, as well as his technique to cover his qi he practiced in order to try and best his grandfather with his sneak attacks… that always failed due to aim. Aside from that it was his most useful trick in his arsonal. As the boy ran, the small red stone he held tightly in his right hand, gave off a soft glow as a faint trace of a mark flickered onto the boy's hand for only an instant, that soon disappeared along with the glow.

...

Hidden away between the countries of Xing and Amestris lays a hidden lab filled with skilled alchemists. These alchemists had been doing special research for twenty five years and finally had completed their research, all that was needed now was the completed results.

"What news do you have for me?" A bored young man's voice sounded catching the attention of all the alchemists… even more so as the man had three Xingese royal guards around him.

"Well m'lord, we've completed our findings but we have yet to actually do the experiment… after all for it to work we need a strong power source," One of the Alchemists reported causing the young man to frown and pull some of his long hair, a usual sign of nobility among the Xingese males, behind his ear.

"Well then get to it, use some of the wayside towns for all I care… I need this being if I'm going to rule Xing," the man sighed as he motioned for the three guards to follow him and leave. One of the Alchemic researcher's frowned and avoided eye contact with the rest of his colleagues, who all were for conducting the experiment despite the obvious costs.

_This research that Prince is having us do… truly is the devil's work._

"Hey, Keil!" The voice of one of the man's fellow researcher's caught the man's attention and he looked over to the nine other researchers.

"Aren't you coming? We have to begin soon, our funder's orders," A female researcher responded, adjusting her glasses ever so slightly as she held her notes that detailed the transmutation circles needed for what they were going to do.

"I… I can't actually put this to practice…" Keil spoke, avoiding eye contact by looking down so his greying hair covered his eyes. One of the researcher's scoffed at the hesitant man.

"It's to late to back out of this now Keil! The boss want's an _**immortal being **_that will follow his orders, so suck it up and come on. Unless you want to be used as part of the material to make said being," a tall, muscled alchemist hissed, causing the man to flinch a bit and continue to avoid eye contact.

"N-No I don't… but… alright… I'll help…" Keil responded, instantly feeling like the weight of the world come crashing down on his shoulders with guilt for what they were about to do…

_If this is not the devil's work… it's playing God where it should not be. I thought this would be used only in theory to help the sick during the first ten years… why… why didn't I leave when I found out we're being used to make a homunculus during the eleventh year? _The man thought with a grim expression on his face as he also knew the price for playing god to create said being… multiple human lives for a core… and someone to do human transmutation.

...

"Something's not right…" A man who appeared to be in his mid thirties muttered from his seat in front of a small table in the Central headquarters of Amestris. The man had tanned skin and a faint trace of red within his eyes, a clear sign of being a descendant of Ishval.

"And what makes you say that Ja'hal?" Another man, closer to his late thirties asked as he sat in a seat across from the Ishvalan. This man had dark green eyes and Blond hair that was borderline brown, he was wearing the military uniform of Amestris and had an air of importance to him.

"I have no clue… it's just… this feeling… I can't quite explain it Fuhrer Kenton…" Ja'hal responded as he turned to look out the elongated windows of the headquarters. Kenton followed the Ishvalan man's gaze with interest as he interlocked his fingers.

"Let's wait and see what that feeling will bring about my friend," Kenton spoke, green eyes reflecting back at him from the reflection in the window, filled with interest on what the future would hold.

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So how was this? I'll try to update this as soon as I can (when I'm not working on other stories first that is!)


	2. Chapter 2

Merry Christmas everyone! So here's my gift to you The second chapter and at the bottom will be one Character Profile of one of the OC's, I'll be adding one to all of the chapter's from now on so hope you enjoy!

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_**Chapter 2**_

Joseph was out for a walk into the town of Resembool to look for a new setting he wanted to paint. The boy had painted almost everywhere around his grandfather's and his families houses, he now wanted to paint something around the town. The boy stopped when he got a good scene of the town and sat down in the grass as he prepared his paints and canvas for the work he was going to do. The boy first went with a few greys of the building's in his view before he went back in with a few light blues and a smidgen of brown within it. The boy only paused his work when he heard the whistle of the train not to far from his area, signifying the morning train was coming around.

"Wonder if any alchemists are going to get off just to meet grandpa…" Joseph muttered to himself, as it was a common occurrence for budding Alchemists to come to the small town just to meet with the famed Fullmetal Alchemist. Shaking his head slightly when a memory of one of said alchemists came around to ask his grandpa to train him, only to be flat out denied by the ex-alchemist.

Halfway through his painting, Joseph paused his work, leaving his paint brush off of his canvas so it wouldn't drip. The brown hair boy noticed that it was already mid-day, signifying he had been out there for at least two hours, and that someone was stumbling his way on the path from the train station. Curious the boy set his painting supplies down and left his spot for a closer investigation of the person. When he got closer he saw it was a young Xingese boy with short hair, that if he had gotten closer he would have seen that it would have been freshly cut within the last few days, dark clothing that still held the foreign air of the country of Xing and a backpack hanging from his shoulders. After all the first part of observations he had of the boy… he noticed how worn down the boy looked and that if he continued on he would collapse soon.

"Hey, you okay?" Joseph asked as he hurried down closer to the boy, said boy looked over and stopped walking. The minute the Xingese boy's legs stopped their movement he collapsed onto his knees causing Joseph to run over to the boy's side. "Hey what happened?" A sudden growl from the boy's stomach caused Joseph to look at the boy with confusion.

"S-Sorry… ran out of food… three days ago… and water yesterday…" The boy said, his Amestrian sounding a little strained through his Xing accent. The brown haired boy sighed as he helped the hungry boy up.

"Come on… I'm sure Grandpa won't mind food being used for a good cause," Joseph sighed and a few steps into their walk the artist spoke back up. "So what's your name by the way?"

"Tan-Lan… you?"

"Joseph."

...

Joseph was instantly regretting bringing Tan-Lan to his grandfather's home. The Xingese boy had practically devoured the entire pantry before he seemed content. Sure Joseph could have brought Tan-Lan to his home… but after his sister almost burning down the house for the fifth time just trying to make popcorn, they were not allowed to even touch food there unless it had been made by their family members… or Joseph was being taught how to cook.

"Got any desert?" Tan-Lan asked, finishing the last bag of chips and resting his cheek on his right hand.

"N-no… no we don't, sorry," Joseph responded, not wanting to lose anymore food and getting both his Grandpa and Grandma mad at him. Tan-Lan sighed at this response and opted instead for leaning back into his seat at the table as well as grabbing a fruit from the bowl on the table. Joseph just grimaced internally, feeling like he wouldn't be able to eat for a while after seeing the large portion eaten by a kid who looked no older than himself.

"Bummer. I could have gone for trying some Amestrian sweets," Tan-Lan sighed, his disappointment showing.

_Where are Grandpa and Grandma when I need them? _Joseph thought as he started picking up the garbage. The boy stopped his work when a small figure once again latched onto his back and caused him to fall to the ground face first.

"There you are Big Brother~" Maria chirped as she continued to hug her brother. Joseph groaned at his sister.

"Maria we have a guest here!"

"Don't mind me, continue whatever it is you're doing," Tan-Lan responded, waving one hand as the other held an apple in it up to his mouth. Maria looked over to the older boy, eyes instantly alit with wonder and a chance at hearing about an adventure.

"YOU'RE FROM XING RIGHT?!" Maria practically screamed, leaping off her brother's back and in front of the young Prince in nearly an instant.

"Yeesh you are loud…." Tan-Lan hissed, picking at his ear a bit from the volume directed at him. "But yeah I'm from Xing… what of it?"

"Tell me about your travels!" Maria squealed out, bouncing a bit in place as she did.

"Well the trains where long, had to walk through a few crowds and towns to get to the next one… not much else to mention," Tan-Lan shrugged as he rubbed a hand through his hair with a frown, as if he wasn't used to it being so short. Maria's shoulders slumped as she looked down with an "Oh.." There was a silence for a while then, till the sound of a door opening caught their attention as well as a sudden scream from the kitchen.

"DID LING COME BY WITHOUT LETTING ME KNOW?! I SWEAR EVEN IF HE IS THE EMPEROR I WILL KICK HIS ASS!"

"Oh boy… Grandpa's in one of his rant's again…" Joseph muttered as he slowly backed away from the doorway to the kitchen. Tan-Lan flinched in his seat at the mention of his own grandfather, as well as the sheer loudness of the voice. Maria just grinned as she turned and took a seat at the table, waiting for her own grandfather to come in, which he quickly did.

"WHO LET THE IDIOT… wait where's Ling… and who the hell is that?" Edward asked, calming down from his earlier anger into confusion.

"Grandpa… we don't even know a 'Ling' and this is-" Joseph started to explain, only to be interrupted by the young prince.

"Name's Tan-Lan… and why are you talking about the Emperor like you know him you old fart?" Tan-Lan asked as he quirked a brow up, trying to avoid saying anything about how he is related to said Emperor.

"I'M NOT THAT OLD YET!" Ed shouted before he started coughing due to yelling so much earlier. Maria giggled a bit at this while Joseph looked away and had to cover a smirk crossing his face.

"You look about as old as my Granddad, and I call HIM old man so by default you are old fart," Tan-Lan explained casually as he finished off the apple he had grabbed not to long ago and reached for another one. Ed noticed the boy doing this and frowned when he had a thought about who the kid might be.

"Joseph… this kid wasn't passed out in the middle of town begging for food was he?" Ed asked, suspecting his eldest grandchild might have something to do with the practically gluttonous Xing child.

"No… he just got off the train and said he ran out of food three days ago… and ran out of water yesterday," Joseph answered, rubbing at the back of his head and messing with his medium length brown hair a bit.

"..." Ed was silent for a bit thinking this information over, figuring it was good that Tan-Lan did get some food finally… but still thought the amount he ate was to familiar. "Hey brat."

"My name's Tan-Lan you old fart."

"And my name's Ed not old fart, you brat," Ed growled as the two glared each other down after the nicknames each received

"Grandpa, didn't Grandma say you shouldn't get too mad anymore or something about your blood presser will happen?" Maria pipped up, still smiling away despite the atmosphere not giving way to anything that would prompt a smile. Ed sighed deeply at the reminder.

"Damn, you really ARE and old fart then," Tan-Lan grinned a bit from the one sided exchange which caused the elderly man to want to strangle the kid then and there. However Ed managed to control that urge, mostly because of the fact his grandchildren were present and Winry could be coming home at any minute along with his own kids.

...

Keil's heart was racing as he and the other researchers where all working on adding a large circle around the perimeter of the village they had chosen to use for the creation of the philosopher's stone. Keil was, unlike the others, purposely taking his time to prolong the inevitable.

_Someone… anyone, please notice what we are doing and try to stop us, _Keil pleaded internally, the forty year old man wanting to stop but knew if the others found out he wasn't doing his part… that he would be considered a loose end and would be… "Cut Off" by either one of the researchers, or the Boss's guards. His plea was heard… but it was brought about to the wrong person.

"Excuse me, ma'am," an elder questioned the female researcher as he was out on a walk with his dog and a slightly younger woman at his side.

"What can I do for you sir?" The woman asked moving some of her black hair, that was out of the bun she held the rest in, out of her face.

"May I inquire what you are doing?"

"Oh this? It's part of a direct order from the treaty. You see some of us Alchemists have been called to make a nice wall to prevent further bandit attacks," The woman recited with a false smile plastered on her face. The young woman gained a thoughtful look while the elderly gentleman chuckled a bit.

"Oh that sounds grand. At least now we won't end up like Norens. Keep up the good work then ma'am," and with that the man had left the researcher whose face turned from her false smile to a neutral one.

_For our sake… I hope you don't become the dominant soul of the stone old man._

_..._

Ling was anxious, he had his guards looking for his grandson for nearly a month now and his duties as emperor prevented him from leaving Xing all together. He ordered his guards the moment he saw, what he could only assume to be, Tan-Lan jumping over the wall after, more than likely, stealing the philosopher's stone from his possession.

"Father…" the voice of a tired sounding young man caught the Emperor's attention from pacing the floors of his room. In the doorway was the first born prince Hai, his long hair was thrown into a lazy ponytail and the look on his face suggested he'd rather be back in his bed then being up and about at the moment.

"What? Do you have any news for me about Tan-Lan?" Ling questioned as he straightened himself as best he could, mostly as the twenty eight year old in front of him was Lady Song's first born among her twins, and the one she wished to obtain the throne.

"Yeah… One of the guards told of a woman at the train station who spoke to him… apparently he asked her for one of her wrist bracers she was selling, before heading off on the first train to Amestris," Hai answered with a yawn, as his father's eyes narrowed in thought of the information just given to him.

_Why would Tan-Lan get a bracer of all things? Not only that… but why would he choose to go to Amestris? Then again he stole the Philosopher's stone and I know for a fact he wouldn't know what it's supposed to do, _Ling thought to himself, as Hai watched his father for a bit, before deciding to leave the emperor to his thoughts.

"Ah, Hai," a regal tone caught the first born's attention. Before him was a nearly identical copy to himself, the differences being the one before Hai had his long hair out, some of it's strands in front of his shoulders and he looked more like he actually prepared for the day.

"Aiguo…" Hai greeted with a yawn.

"Still having trouble keeping awake I see," Aiguo commented with a sly smile on his face while Hai looked away from his twin.

"Nah. I just wake up to early is all," Hai replied as he started walking away.

"Oh, if that's the case what _do _you do at night to make getting up at 7:00 so early?" Aiguo smirked as his brother stopped in his tracks.

"None of your business…"

"Oh but it will be at some point."

"Maybe… but now is **not **that point, so lay off," when that was said Hai walked away not even turning to look Aiguo in the eye, nor even noticing the smirk that made it's way onto his younger twin's face.

"I wonder what it is that you're keeping from me, dear brother."

...

Tan-Lan had practically fallen asleep while Ed was explaining Equivalent Exchange as well as Alchemy. It all started with the story of how the ex-alchemist knew the emperor of Xing… than him and Edward's grandchildren had asked about the philosopher's stone. None of them understood what the stone was supposed to do or how it was so important… then it somehow lead to an explanation of Alchemy that caused the Xingese prince to start falling asleep, Joseph to sneak out of the house to retrieve his painting supplies he left behind when he found Tan-Lan, and Maria to just doodle on some paper with crayons.

"... So with all that the stone is used to bypass that and can also bring a sort of immortality and… Where the hell did Joseph go?" Ed asked finally finishing his explanation and noticing the kids around him.

"Jo-Jo went to get his art stuff," Maria responded before she looked over to Tan-Lan, who was out like a light, with a half eaten apple on the table.

"And when did I lose the two of you?" Ed asked, raising a brow at the two kids.

"Well he fell asleep when you started to say something about one and all… then I just stopped paying attention till the end. Hey Grandpa can I go-"

"Absolutely NOT!"

"You don't even know what I was going to ask!"

"You were going to ask if you can go find a philosopher's stone, and the answer is NO!"

"But grandpa, it sounds like a real adventure!"

"Clearly you do not realize how dangerous it is!"

"What's an adventure without a little danger?!"

"And how's a guy gonna sleep if all I hear is screaming and yelling?" Tan-Lan yawned as he sat up slowly from a weird dream… and also being woken up by the arguing family. He barely registered how his left hand was tracing the outline of the bracer he held on his right wrist as he glared at the two. Ed sighed and took up a serious face.

"I think you've overstayed your welcome now," Ed said, causing Maria to look between the two and Tan-Lan to shrug.

"Fine by me. I wanted to get moving again anyways," As Tan-Lan got up and started to leave both Winry and Joseph entered into the home.

"Did grandpa finish his long winded story?"

"Yeah the old fart did apparently," Tan-Lan answered as he walked past the confused Winry and Joseph.

"By the way, thanks for the food… I owe you one Joseph." With that the prince had left the home and the family sat in the house.

...

Tan-Lan was walking away from the Elric home, his thoughts mostly on the weird dream he had.

_Tan-Lan had fallen asleep… only to find himself in some deep sea of red. On closer look he could see faces… and hear screams of anguish all around him._

"_Hello?" the boy called out into the sea of red, not receiving any response other than the screams from the many red faces. "Hey can one of you guys stop screaming for a minute and tell me where the hell I am?"_

_No response came to the prince and he just sighed and sat down indian style. Feeling bored he looked at a few of the souls before finally speaking up again._

"_So, are you screaming because you have the face of a dog?" Tan-Lan asked one of the screaming souls as he paid attention to how their faces looked to try and tell each one apart. Getting no response he turned his gaze to a different one._

"_How about you? You look like you have been screaming so long your face is stuck in one," Tan-Lan sighed again when he got no response. He turned to a different soul and stared at that one for a bit._

"_I don't understand why you are screaming though… You at least look better than dog face over there," despite the clear compliment, still nothing other than the eternal screams. Tan-Lan soon grew agitated by the souls and groaned loudly._

"_Come on, one of you talk to me! At least say 'Hi,' or 'How's it going?'!" The young prince soon got his wish, if only for a short second before he was dragged back into the waking world._

"_**Hi, how's it going?"**_

Tan-Lan couldn't get the voice out of his head. It was a smooth baritone… but it also sounded rather faded, or unused… either way it didn't sound like a normal voice he had ever heard.

_The hell was with that sea of red faces also? _Tan-Lan asked internally, but finding no answers at all much to his disappointment.

"Hey wait up!" The young voice of Maria caught the Xingese boy's attention. Turning to look behind him he saw the girl running up to him with a big grin on her face, despite looking a little tired from running to catch up to him.

"Do you need something?"

"I wanna come with you!" Maria chirped still grinning at the older boy who quirked a brow.

"Come again?"

"I wanna come with you! Please!" Maria soon pleaded attempting to use the puppy dog eye trick on the confused boy.

"I… guess… if you pack first," Tan-Lan responded… honestly not expecting the nine year old to want to join him in just traveling aimlessly around Amestris trying to find away to best his grandfather.

"YES! You won't regret this I promise!" Maria grinned as she ran back to her house with renewed energy while Tan-Lan watched her go with a confused expression on his face.

"I barely have any idea what I'm even trying to do though…." The prince muttered to himself before he had one thought cross his mind.

_Maybe I should have spent more than ten minutes on this plan after all…_

...

Fuhrer Kenton gazed out his window to the streets of Central, his Assistants on either side of him.

"Sir, is everything alright?" A young man, with black hair that covered his forehead a bit, but also spiked upwards ever so slightly, asked.

"I'm not quite sure myself," Kenton responded as he opened the window a bit and pulled out a cigarette from his uniform's pocket.

"Sir I thought you swore to quit when you became Fuhrer in Mustang's place…" Ja'hal said as the blond haired man simply placed the stick into his mouth.

"I did. I don't have a lighter and it's just a comfort to have one in place," Kenton responded. A frown crossed his face as he couldn't help but think something was amiss over the past month. Ja'hal had originally brought it up to him the last month as his own concerns… but now he was getting the ever growing feeling himself.

_What could it possibly be though… _Kenton thought as he pulled the unlit stick from his frowning lips.

"Sir… May I retire for the night? Mother would need some assistance by now and-" The black haired young man started only to get interrupted by the raised hand of Kenton.

"Selim you don't have to ask me that, the answer will always be yes. Also drop the sir, how many years have we known each other?" Kenton asked with a slight smile on his face. Selim seemed to relax himself and smiled.

"Right sorry about that Kenton… I'll see you and Ja'hal tomorrow then," Selim responded and began walking out the door.

"See you tomorrow, and tell your mother I pray for her health," Ja'hal called over, earning a bright smile from the black haired man.

"I'll be sure to do so, and I'll also tell her you both say hi then! Good night."

"Good Night," Both men responded as Selim left finally and both turned their attention back to the window, as if it would tell them what was amiss.

* * *

Yeah I wanted to include a grown up Selim Bradly, looks like he's made a name for himself huh? Anyways here is the first character profile:

Tan-Lan Yao:

Age: 14

Birthday: March 27th (Aries)

Favorite foods: Mostly sweets and Fruits, will eat anything else first to save the best for last.

Least Favorite foods: May come at a surprise but, anything with potatoes.

Family: Ling Yao (Grandfather), Lan-Fan (Grandmother (deceased)), Huang (Father (deceased)), Unnamed Mother(deceased), Mei Chang/Elric (Great Aunt), Alphonse Elric (Great Uncle), Ya-Ting Elric (Cousin)

Dreams/Goals: To be a better emperor then his grandfather and to try every sweet thing in the world at least once.

Talents: Quick on his feet, able to hide his qi (for a short period of time), sneak almost anything away so long as no one is watching him, decent in kung fu.

Weaknesses: Terrible Aim (can't do it to save his life), Starts blabbing almost anything when under pressure, someone taking his desert away.

So yeah note I haven't done a Description of how he looks, because I'm drawing it out and may post it on my DA account (or you know get bored one day and actually type the whole thing out and add it to this)


	3. Chapter 3

Hey Everyone, new chapter and new character profile on the bottom! I'm going to try and keep this brief by saying that... I really hate my brain sometimes as while I was writing this chapter before I went to work, my brain literally went "Hey you wanna know what would make a good new story idea? That you can also incorporate one from that weird dream you had?" Then I went "DAMN IT" And now I'm writing it on the side... along with many MANY other stories I'm already working on... I just can't stop...

I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist, but I do pretty much own the Original Characters in this story as well as the plot of it as well!

Please Read and Review (The last one is pretty much the life blood for all my stories honestly)

* * *

_**Chapter 3**_

Maria was ecstatic when she ran into her home, which was only a nine minute walk from her grandparent's home. The first thing she did was run up to her room and grab a backpack, figuring it was the easiest thing she could use for adventures. First thing she did was dump out the school stuff and started packing some cloths she knew she would want or need.

"Let's see, clothes check! Money? I'll just grab some quickly… Food? Same as the money one… OH I should also take my book of plants!" Maria chimed as she ran to her small bookshelf and pulled out that one particular book, said to contain information on all plant materials.

"Maria…" The voice of Joseph caught Maria off guard as she stumbled with her book in hand.

"Oh, hi Jo-Jo!" Maria grinned as she stood straight with her book in hand. Joseph narrowed his eyes at his sister.

"What are you planning?"

"Just a camping trip, nothing wrong with that," Maria smiled as she walked back to her backpack and placed the book down into the bag. Joseph frowned, not believing her in the slightest.

"You're going with Tan-Lan aren't you?"

"Why would I go with someone I don't know?" Maria asked tilting her head innocently, her smile still present. That was how Joseph knew she was lying.

"Maria, no."

"You can't tell me what to do Jo-Jo!" Maria chirped as she picked up her half full bag and started to walk out.

"You know when mom and dad are not home, and grandma or grandpa aren't with us I'm in charge!" This caused Maria to pout and glare at her older brother.

"Why can't you all just let me do what I want for once?!"

"Because it's dangerous and you're only 9 years old!"

"So?! I'm a big girl!"

"No you're not! You have to be 13 to be considered one!"

"Grandpa was only eleven when he began his travels with uncle Al! That's not much older than me!"

"Those where different times, and you are not going and that is final!" Joseph shouted, causing Maria to fall silent. The dark blond haired girl then looked down and have said hair cover her blue eyes. Joseph noticed this, as well as the quiet sound of sniffling and choked back sobs coming from his sisters shaking form. "Oh no… Maria…"

"W-Why… d-do y-you all… h-hate my dr-dreams?" Maria sobbed as she slunk down into a squatting position and cried into her legs.

"Maria… that's not-"

"Yes it is!" Maria shouted, turning her head up and showing her tear ridden face with anger written on it.

"Maria-"

"NO I'M NOT GOING TO LISTEN TO YOUR DUMB REASONS! You're not a big boy since you're not 13 your self! So I don't have to listen to you!" Maria shouted as she jumped back up and ran right past her brother, who let out a yelp of surprise as she b-lined for the kitchen, stuffed as many things she could grab into her bag then ran out the door. As the nine year old ran she wiped the stray tears from her face with her arm, her only hope at that moment was to reach the train station before the train passed along with her ticket to an adventure at the same time.

...

Tan-Lan sat on a bench at the station waiting for the train to come around. On his way over to the station he stopped and… picked up, some food that he packed away into his bag again.

_I really don't like taking it… but I couldn't exchange my currency due to the Xing guards looking for me there…. _Tan-Lan thought to himself as he eyed his bag he had sitting next to him, and his hand tracing over his now exposed bracer… that held the Philosopher's stone in the center of it. The crimson stone held a soft glow when his finger's neared it, only to stop when he looked down at it.

_I still don't get what's so special about this stone though… Is it some kind of valuable material used to appease the last Emperor? _Tan-Lan thought to himself, mostly as he really never paid attention much to history… or Ed's story at all.

"Heey!" the voice of Maria snapped Tan-Lan out of his thoughts. The Xing boy turned his head to see the blond running up, panting a little as she did. The closer she got, the more he saw how red her eyes looked as well as the dried up tear stains on her face.

"Did something happen?" Tan-Lan asked when she finally got to his bench, practically out of breath by then.

"Oh just an argument with dumb Jo-Jo," Maria replied, looking off into the distance for the train. Tan-Lan frowned, feeling like it was a little more than an argument, but choose to keep quiet and leave it as is.

"You sure you still wanna travel with me?"Tan-Lan asked, hoping the girl would realize it's actually not such a good idea to travel with him.

"I'm sure!" Maria chirped, pulling up a happy face once again as she looked over to the prince. "Besides I've always wanted to travel around!"

"I… see…" Tan-Lan murmured and looked away, not knowing how else to respond to the young girl as he's always had to deal with people older than him on a daily basis. Soon the train came around and Maria started to bounce a bit where she stood, while Tan-Lan looked on rather impassively.

"This is so exciting! Do you have the tickets?" Maria asked, her smile getting big while the Xingese boy looked at her with a quirked brow.

"Who said anything about tickets?" Tan-Lan asked earning a confused look from the Amestrian girl. As soon as the train stopped the boy stood up, pulled his backpack up and pulled Maria with him to a cart that didn't have people on it. Both unaware of Joseph running onto the platform after them with a light bag of his own on his own on his back.

_Why the hell am I doing this?! _Joseph asked himself as he chased after his sister and the foreigner she was with. Earlier when his sister ran out of the house he panicked and ran into his own room, packing a smaller bag with only a few pairs of clothes and art supplies, not thinking it wouldn't be very necessary to bring much else, besides the money he had been saving up that of course. The young painter saw Tan-Lan dragging his sister with him to the luggage cart and internally knew then… They were sneaking onto the train. Internally fearful of this Joseph ran straight ahead in hopes to catch them before the train takes off… and sending him on an unwanted adventure himself.

...

Selim was cleaning around his, and his mother's home. It was smaller than what he only faintly remembered from when he was a child, but it was more than enough for the two. Sure they had help to clean and prepare everything, since his mother became bed ridden nearly two years ago now, but Selim always felt… a bit of **pride** in his work.

"Young master…" One of the two helpers of the house called to the young man. Selim looked up from his work with a small smile.

"Yes Edgar?" Selim asked as he stood up, brushing his hands off onto his pants as he did.

"The Ishvalan has come…" Edgar spoke, holding back his distaste for said race in the presence of his employer. Selim however sighed as he still heard the smallest amount of venom used in the man's speech.

"I really wish you weren't so racist…" Selim sighed and walked from his work to speak with Ja'hal.

Down in the living room Ja'hal made himself comfortable on the couch, his uniform traded for his comfortable civilian clothing.

"I wasn't expecting to see you so soon," Selim announced as he walked down the stairs. Ja'hal looked over to the black haired young man and smiled.

"I'm simply enjoying my day off. I also happened to be in the neighborhood and decided to see how your morning has been," the Ishvalan said as the black haired man sat on a chair across from him.

"It's going good, despite the fact I'm going to have to get ready for work soon… Oh I almost forgot, do you want some tea or coffee?"

"Tea is much more preferred."

"I'll go make some then… if Edgar comes in and gives you a hard time let me know alright."

"I will be sure to do so," Ja'hal smiled. As soon as Selim went into the kitchen Ja'hal took on a thoughtful look.

_It's strange… not only is there a bad feeling on the wind… but I find it still weird, how Selim barely looks a day over twenty despite being in his forties…. _Ja'hal thought knowing for a fact that Selim was once an assistant to Furer Mustang before Kenton took over, and was also the one who helped both him and Kenton settle into working with the Military… yet his looks haven't changed at all since then.

"Oh Ja'hal!" a woman's voice caught the Assistant's attention. Standing on the staircase was a woman in her early thirties, wearing an apron over her clothing and a bucket of cleaning supplies in her hands.

"Greetings Madame Snow," Ja'hal greeted causing the woman's cheeks to turn a shade of pink along with a frown.

"I thought you agreed to stop calling me by my last name."

"I apologize then, Madison," Ja'hal responded as he looked away from the female help of the home.

"It's fine… I just get annoyed with people calling me by my last name…" Madison sighed as she fixed her hair bun, after reaching the bottom of the steps and had set the cleaning supplies down first.

"I believe I remember the story behind that," Ja'hal commented, still avoiding looking at the woman, who held a soft smile on her lips as she gazed over at the man.

"I'm glad then…" Madison started only to stop when she saw Selim come walking in.

"The tea's on the stove right now. Oh hey Madison can I ask a big favor from you?" Selim asked smiling up at the woman who sighed.

"Whatever you need young Master…"

"Could you bring Mother up her lunch?" Selim asked, coaxing a small smile out of the woman.

"Sure thing," Madison replied and started to make her way into the kitchen only to stop and look at Ja'hal for a bit. "Talk to you more later?"

"Perhaps," the Ishvalan said, a small smile gracing his face as the woman nodded and went into the kitchen. Selim smirked at the exchange and took his seat back.

"One of these days you two are going to get past flirting and start dating," Ja'hal straightened up a bit at Selim's words and pulled up a straight face.

"It wasn't flirting, we were merely having a discussion."

"Sure, you where. That's why you both agreed on a date," Selim responded with a continued smirk on his face. Ja'hal simply looked away.

"Please, you're acting childish right now. We were simply planning to have a social expo-"

"Ja'hal it's written on your face," Selim grinned as Ja'hal turned a light shade of red but kept up a blank expression.

_The mental age of a teenager, mixed with forty years of experience and the body of a twenty year old… I swear you are a hassle to deal with._

...

Tan-Lan had gotten them both onto the train, illegally much to Maria's discomfort, and was setting up a nice area where they wouldn't be spotted for if someone were to walk into the compartment to check for stowaways.

"Why didn't we get tickets?"

"Well for one thing… I wasn't able to exchange my currency before hand. The other thing is, this saves a bit of money and it adds more excitement for the trip," Tan-Lan explained as he moved a few boxes carefully around the area they were sitting in. Maria thought this through for a bit before realizing the Xingese boy was right on the last two accounts. Before she could speak about this however the sound of someone climbing into the cart caught both of the runaway kid's attention. Tan-Lan acted quickly and covered Maria's mouth as he pulled her into hiding. Wanting to protest a bit to what was going on, Maria stopped when she heard footsteps walking around the cart.

"Maria?" the familiar voice of Joseph called out causing Maria to bite her lips and push herself further into hiding. Tan-Lan however quirked a brow as he didn't know why Maria wanted to hide so much from her elder sibling. Lifting his hand from the girls mouth the prince stood up and went to greet Joseph.

"Hey, decided to join the party?" Joseph frowned when he saw Tan-Lan coming out of hiding.

"Is my sister back there as well?"

"Dunno, she would have come out if she was," Tan-Lan shrugged, figuring it would be best to tell a few fibs.

"After what happened back at home? No, no she wouldn't," Joseph responded, earning a quirked brow from Tan-Lan. The prince then turned to where Maria was, wanting to know the story.

"What the hell happened?" Maria flinched in her hiding spot while Joseph glared at both the Prince as well as where said prince was looking.

"Maria, come out now."

"NO!" the girl's loud voice caused both boy's to jump from the fact the yell echoed in the compartment.

"Shhhh, not so loud. Do you want us to get caught?" Tan-Lan hissed, covering his ears and the sleeve over his bracer being moved to expose the cool silver.

"No… but I'm not going back with stupid Jo-Jo!" Maria exclaimed, quieter than the first time but still rather loud.

"Maria! Look this is stupid, so get out of there and let's go home now!" Joseph commanded and before Maria could fight with him again the train whistle sounded and the door to the compartment was closed. Joseph's heart practically stopped for a few seconds as the cart was jerked forward slightly… signifying the train was moving now. "Oh no…"

"Oh great… fun ruiner Jo-Jo is coming with!" Maira groaned as Joseph slowly began to panic more at his situation and Tan-Lan just sighed and made himself comfortable.

"Oh… NO! Someone get me out of here!"

...

Keil was sitting in his designated room of the base in their research lab, shaking with guilt as he did. The group was a bit ahead of schedule in the circle and would be moving onto the internal design used for the stabilization of the circle… and the clear objective of it would also be made should anyone look down from the sky at it.

"Hey Keil, Marcus is cooking for dinner," the female researcher spoke through the greying haired man's door. Keil remained silent as he stared at the door, guilt pulling to much at him to cause him to be hungry. "Keil, please… this is the fourth day you skipped eating. If you don't come out and eat with the rest of us, I will come in and force feed you."

"Alicia… please just leave me be… I'll come out in a bit," Keil called weakly to the woman. Alicia huffed and walked away from the door. Keil held his hand up and stared as it shook from his guilt.

_I can't do this any more…_ Keil thought frowning as his fingers traced over his bed sheets.

...

Joseph was shaking as he finally took to sitting with the other two stowaways. It was a quiet trip after Joseph seemed to have a panic attack earlier.

"So… First time riding a train?" Tan-Lan asked the two Amestrians, showing he was the only one seemingly comfortable in their situation.

"Yup. Dad get's motion sickness so we don't get to travel a lot like this," Maria chirped, relieved that they were getting out of the uncomfortable silence.

"We're getting on the next train back to Resembool though…" Joseph muttered from his huddled position and shaking. Maria pouted and glared at her brother while Tan-Lan shrugged.

"The two of you can if you want, I've still got a lot of places to see."

"Oh speaking of that, do you know where this train is going?" Maria asked, curious on their destination and also to see if she can hear of the foreigner's plans. Tan-Lan instantly flinched, turned his head and felt like he was sweating bullets.

"I… I have no idea really…." Tan-Lan responded, his hand rubbing against the back of his neck as he felt the gazes of the siblings.

"So… wait you're just traveling aimlessly?" Joseph asked, narrowing his eyes over at the possible teen.

"Give me a break I didn't think this whole thing through and I can't read Amestrian!" Tan-Lan blurted before he paused and realized he gave off a little more information then he should have.

"You can't?" Maria asked in surprise. Joseph on the other hand just quirked a brow at the Xing boy.

"N-No… I can't… I only learned how to speak it I had trouble learning to read and write it…" Tan-Lan responded as he once again turned his head away from the siblings, this time out of shame.

"Well I don't even know the Xing Language," Maria piped up with a smile.

"I wouldn't expect you to…" Tan-Lan and Joseph both said at the same time causing both to look at each other, both having slightly annoyed looks when they did. Maria couldn't help but giggle at the two boy's faces as it seemed like they took to a glaring contest.

It took a while but when the train finally stopped Tan-Lan stood up and hurried to the door, motioning for the two others to follow him. Joseph sighed but followed as Maria practically skipped over and out the opened compartment door with the boys.

"Finally fresh air," Tan-Lan sighed in content as he stretched a bit after leaving the confines of the train.

"Yeah it's nice… Now let's go find a train back home Maria," Joseph stated as he grabbed his sister's arm and started pulling her. The girl protested and fought to get away.

"NO NO NO NO NO! I'M NOT GOING BACK, I'M FINALLY GOING ON AN ADVENTURE!" Maria cried as she tried to get out of her brother's grip.

"Maria! Stop it, we're going home. Mom, dad, grandpa and grandma must be worried right now!"

"I don't CARE, I just wanna go on an adventure!"

"Maria, you HAVE to listen to me!"

"No I don't! You said big kids are thirteen years or older and you're only 12!" Maria screamed as she scratched at her brother's hand. Joseph hissed at this and let go, only to have his sister run over to Tan-Lan. "Besides he's probably older than you!"

"I did turn fourteen two weeks ago…" Tan-Lan mused, not really wanting to be dragged into the family problems but seemed to be anyways.

"See he's a big kid so I can listen to him!"

"But you hardly know him!"

"Your brother has a point there."

"So?! You're the one letting me follow my dreams!"

"That is also true I guess…"

"Pick a side already!" Joseph exclaimed while Tan-Lan just raised his hands.

"Hey I want no part of this family squabble anyways. I'm just pointing out facts right now!"

"But you won't let mean old Jo-Jo take me home when the Adventure barely began will you?" Maria asked pulling out the kicked puppy look to Tan-Lan, who was once again feeling like he really had no idea what to do.

"Maria, don't make the stranger who eats a lot feel uncomfortable and let's go home already!" Joseph exclaimed while Tan-Lan was pretty much stuck in the middle of this whole fight, feeling like an awkward third wheel… that is till someone from the station finally noticed their fighting and came to investigate.

"What are you kids doing back here?!" The worker exclaimed startling the three kids.

"Nice going you two, run!" Tan-Lan commanded as he grabbed the sibling's wrists and dragged them out of there, none of them wanting to get in more trouble than they might already be in.

* * *

Alright here is the next profile for you people:

Joseph Roy Reinhart:

Age: 12

Birthday: December 31st (Capricorn)

Favorite food: Home-cooked beef stew

Least Favorite Food: Omelettes

Family: Edward Elric (Grandfather), Winry Rockbell/Elric (Grandmother), Aleister Elric (Uncle), Gabe Elric (Uncle), Nina Elric (Mother), Kevin Reinhart (father), Maria Reinhart (sister), Alphonse Elric (Great Uncle), Mei Chang/Elric (Great Aunt), Ya-Ting Elric (Cousin)

Dreams/Goals: To be an artist, to get his sister to stop messing with his painting times and to be someone worth looking up to.

Talents: Very observant of his surroundings, painting skills, good memory.

Weaknesses: Often gets tunnel vision, kinda out of shape (only get's exercise from chasing his sister).


	4. Chapter 4

Holy crap it's been ages since I updated this thing! I mean like I haven't been able to since December... but hey I just got back around to it (god damned writers block on this one I tell you) and now I'm going to try working on this as much as I can since I already planned out how I want to end this!

* * *

_**Chapter 4**_

Alicia was outside Keil's door again, this time though she brought a tall alchemist with her as her fellow researcher hadn't come out of his room all night and they had to get going soon.

"Keil, this is getting ridiculous get out of there!" Alicia yelled as the tall alchemist she brought with her was drawing an alchemic circle on the door.

"Almost done Alice."

"Thank you Thomas. Keil if you don't open this door by the count of three we're breaking in!" Alicia yelled once again. "THREE!"

Thomas activated the circle, causing the door to break apart and attach into the surrounding walls… only for the two to see the body of the person they were attempting to bring out, hanging from the ceiling with his own bed sheets.

"Good lord!" Thomas exclaimed while Alicia flinched and took a step backwards with a scowl.

"Damn fool taking the coward's way out… right before we could even finish as well."

...

The three kids were far away from the train station by this point and Joseph was not happy at all.

"A-Alright, we just wait till the hype dies down then we take the first train back to Resembool!" Joseph stammered as he tried to catch his breath from running to keep up with the foreigner, his sister was also catching her breath but with a defiant glare at her older sibling.

"Yeah it won't die down so soon…" Tan-Lan sighed earning the sibling's attention in that moment.

"How would you know?"

"Well for one thing, I got caught once before… could not go back to that train station without security after me for two whole days before I went to walk to the next town for the train there," Tan-Lan explained with a sigh. Maria's eyes widened with glee while Joseph's widened in horror.

"So… we have to?"

"Yup."

"And it takes about-"

"Six or seven days, give or take on weather."

"So we're gonna be gone for-"

"Long enough for them to notice you're missing."

"I can't wait!" Maria chimed in excitement as she broke up the back and forth between the two older boys. Looking at the young blond she was jumping up and down with much more energy than she had while running earlier.

"W-Well when we get to the next town… or city, we're taking the first train back home!"

"You guys can do that if you want… I've got some things to finish up first before I can even think of back tracking," the prince sighed, hoping to whatever god out there he would be left out of a family squabble that wasn't his own.

"You can take the first train back Jo-Jo, I'm gonna travel Amestris!" Maria grinned, already darting off ahead of the two boys who both reached out to try and stop her for different reasons.

"H-Hey don't go running off without us!" Was Joseph's call as he didn't want his sister getting lost or worst.

"Wait none of us know where to go for the next town!" was Tan-Lan's exclamation as he thought about the maps he… borrowed and read, or rather look for exit points and places that match how it looks on the map.

After getting Maria back Tan-Lan was looking over the map, despite the headache he got from trying to read the Amestrian language. Joseph and Maria saw the boy's struggling and the brother then pulled the map from Tan-Lan's hands and began reading it himself.

"Closest town is to the north from the looks of this," Joseph said after glancing over the map.

"I knew that…." Tan-Lan murmured as he took the map back.

"Why do we even need a map, when we could go without one to make it better!" Maria exclaimed as she bounced on her heels. Joseph gave his sister a deadpanned look, while Tan-Lan looked at the nine year old like she was crazy.

"Maria, that's like more of a death wish then an adventure," Joseph responded only to get his sister to pout at him.

"Seriously we need to go to places that would have food! Not all foods you find will be safe to eat," Tan-Lan reasoned only to get a deadpanned stare from Joseph.

"Do you seriously just think with your stomach?"

"What? No, I'm just saying that eating random plants you pick up in case you run out of food is a very stupid idea," the prince explained, looking back at the brown haired boy with an equally deadpanned look.

"You do have a point, pick the wrong plant and you could get sick," Maria thought out loud as she remembered a few things from her plant book… but couldn't quite understand most of the words in it.

"I know that but I still want to know if he just thinks with his stomach," Joseph sighed at the deadpanned look from the Xingese Prince.

"Will you believe me if I say no?"

"No…"

...

"So… Keil has passed to the next world huh?" the Prince asked as he visited his workers, the remaining alchemists nodded.

"He couldn't handle the pressure boss," Thomas responded, not making eye contact with the Xingese royal in the room. Said royal just grabbed a strand of his hair and played with it for a bit.

"That's a pity really, such talent to leave before it could be used or finished," the prince then let his single hair strand go and once again turned to walk out of the lab with his guards around him. "However, I don't want you nine to do the same as Keil. Finish the circle and complete the transmutation as soon as possible and Alice, keep me informed for when it's completed."

"Boss where the hell are you going?"

"Home, after all I don't want my _brother_ or father to know of my dealings… too soon in this game that is," a hidden smirk crossed the Xingese Prince's face as he left the workers to themselves. The one who questioned the boss was left frowning with a glare in his dark brown eyes.

"Why are we even following that guy?"

"One he's paying us, and two he's also allowing us to actually study alchemy that would be considered illegal in Amestris," Alice responded in an even tone, her eyes lingering after her boss as she said these words.

"She's right Jack, besides… would you rather go back to your life as a failed State Alchemist, or accomplish something even they never could," one of the alchemic researchers spoke up to the one who seemed to dislike the boss.

"Tch…"

...

Selim had stopped his paperwork when a sudden bad feeling went down his back. The young looking man stood up from his seat and went over to the near by window. Rain was cascading down the glass and pounding on the roof.

_What… what the hell am I feeling all of a sudden? _Selim thought as he stared out into the rain. Sure he felt something was wrong… but at the same time he felt a nagging feeling that… there was something familiar going on in the back of his mind. As the black haired man stared out the window trying to figure it out, he was so lost in thought he didn't notice the flash of his dark eyes… taking on a deep violet hue only for a second.

"Is something wrong Mr. Bradley?" a young lady Selim had requested to help him for the day asked. A file sitting in front of the lady was left opened on a picture of a State Alchemist who went missing ten years back.

"Wha? Oh sorry I zoned out for a bit there. Nothing's wrong really," Selim replied as he smiled at the lady, but couldn't help but feel something was still wrong with his situation.

...

"What the hell are we going to do now?!" Joseph shouted as the trio were all stuck out in the rain. Tan-Lan shrugged, keeping his hands in his pockets and enjoying the feel of the water on his face.

"Dunno, look for shelter would be a good option I guess," Tan-Lan said only to internally start thinking about back at home and how the guards would be yelling at him to come back inside from the rain there. Not that he would go in until his grandfather saw him and told him to come inside.

"For once I agree with you…" Joseph muttered after rubbing his face with his hands and getting his hair out of his face.

"Why did it have to rain? Rain ruins adventures!" Maria complained as she was getting her longer hair out of her face and truly looked like she wasn't having fun anymore.

"Or we could stay outside and enjoy the weather," Tan-Lan also brought up with a little smirk when the siblings flat out denied that idea. "Well looks like that idea's out… and to think I was already enjoying it."

"How the hell can you stand it anyways?" Joseph asked as the trio started making their way to find a place out of the rain.

"The rain is really soothing to me," Tan-Lan responded taking a relaxed breath.

"But whyyyy? It's wet, I'm getting cold, there's no way to have a fun adventure and my hair keeps getting in my mouth!" Maria complained once again. Tan-Lan just smirked a bit, actually glad he cut his own hair at this point as it barely even got in his face at this point.

"Well should have thought that through if you wanted an adventure. Gotta prepare for weather," Tan-Lan laughed, even though he knew that he himself… was not very prepared thanks to unpredictable Amestrian weather.

"Can we all just focus on getting out of the rain right now?" Joseph asked, shivering a bit as he stood in the rain in his short sleeved shirt and shorts.

"Pleaaase!" Maria pleaded, for once agreeing with her brother on something while Tan-Lan frowned at the two of them.

"Fine ya kill joys…" Tan-Lan sighed as the siblings as well as himself back tracked to the town once again to find some shelter till the rain let up.

Now that the trio was back in the town… their biggest problem rose up with being they had no where to really stay for the night. Tan-Lan decided to stay out of the conversation for a while as the brother and sister tried to work it out for themselves.

"Why don't we just go ask people to let us spend the night?" Maria asked, keeping her arms around her self to keep warm.

"In this part of town? Not going to risk it," Joseph denied, also trying his best to warm himself aside from the fact they were all really wet, as well as looking all around at the darker part of town they ended up returning to.

"Well then where do you suggest we go huh? We don't have money for a hotel… and Tan-Lan doesn't have any."

"Whoa hey there, I've been good at staying out of this topic. Don't go dragging me into it for another one of your sibling fights," Tan-Lan spoke up, only paying attention to the fact he heard his name and had been tuning out the rest of the conversation. The Xingese prince was then met with a pair of deadpanned looks from the siblings.

"You're in it now," Joseph responded, only to earn a curse in Xingese from Tan-Lan.

It took the trio a while but they had finally found a place to spend the night in. It was an abandoned storehouse that looked to have been cleaned out and forgotten with the dust on the floor as well as the cobwebs in the corners.

"Do we haaave to stay in a dump like this?" Maria whined as she kicked up some of the dirt on the ground.

"I don't trust the people in this town Maria…" Joseph started before he and his sister had their shoulders pushed by Tan-Lan just walking through them and into the storehouse. The Xingese boy then took to kicking away some of the cobwebs as well as the dust in one corner before plopping his bag down and using it as a makeshift pillow.

"Wake me when the sun is up," Tan-Lan stated as he quickly got comfortable. Joseph sighed deeply while pinching the bridge of his nose before going inside himself to prepare a spot for the night as well.

"I'm not going in there. It's dusty, dirty and smells funny," Maria stuck her tongue out in disgust as she expressed her dislike for the space.

"Maria, look. This is the best we've got for now. We can't afford a hotel, the people here don't really look like trustworthy people and we have no where else to go out of the rain," Joseph sighed, feeling very tired from this god awful day he's been through and didn't want to make it any worse with his sister's stubbornness.

"This is not what I thought would happen on an adventure…" the young blond pouted as she slowly made her way into the small space with the only sound in there being the dripping water from outside and the occupant's breathing.

_Maybe this will help her get around to wanting to come back home, _Joseph thought to himself with a satisfied smirk on his face, before turning around to get some sleep for himself.

_Tan-Lan was having the weird dream of the sea of red once again. The Xingese boy blinked before looking around his surroundings to find nothing was different from the last time._

"_Damn, the least dog-face could have done was set up a table… or the lady could have left some cards or something…" Tan-Lan sighed, before looking around once again to see if these wishes had effected the dream or not. The prince was disappointed to find out that it didn't affect his surroundings at all._

"_Hey any of you guys, or ladies, know who's in charge around here? I have a few complaints about the decor and hospitality!" the prince shouted into the sea of red, hoping to get some sort of response to help ease his boredom. _

"_**Complain away brat nothing's going to change around here." **__The sudden voice caught the boy off guard as he turned around to look for the source of the voice… finding nothing as he did._

"_Where are you? Wait better question, who are you?" Tan-Lan asked, still trying to find the source of the voice… as well as genuinely curious on who this voice was supposed to be in this weird dream of his. A chuckle came from behind the boy causing him to turn around once again._

"_**Ever try looking up ya brat?" **__The prince blinked at this before face palming and looking up… only to take a step back and for his eyes to widen at what he saw. It appeared to be a face that was dark red like every other face there… but this one seemed the most inhuman and was larger than the other ones. The white eyes appeared to be mildly slanted, no nose was on it and the mouth had no lips as the teeth appeared to be all exposed._

"_Whoa…." Tan-Lan gaped in surprise before a grin spread on his face. "Anyone ever tell you how badass you look?"_

"_**HA, first time actually," **__the face laughed, causing Tan-Lan to laugh a bit._

"_You've gotta be kidding me. Really?"_

"_**Nope. Everyone here besides you and I don't talk."**_

"_Damn, that's gotta suck."_

"_**You have no idea brat."**_

"_How long did you have to deal with this? I'd be pretty sick of hearing all these screams after a while… and staring at dog-face or bird nose over there."_

"_**Pretty long time…"**_

"_So what's your name? Or should I just call you Bad Ass?" Tan-Lan asked, growing slightly more interested in this being that he believes his mind created for the dream. Another laugh came out of the being once again at his question._

"_**Kid I'm beginning to like you. But no don't call me 'Bad Ass' all the time. The name's Greed." **__Tan-Lan blinked at the name, before chuckling a bit to himself._

"_Funny. We have similar names. I'm Tan-Lan by the way."_

"_**How are our names similar kid?"**_

"_Well back in Xing my name is written in the characters for avarice," Tan-Lan explained earning another laugh from Greed._

"_**Now you have got to be kidding here kid."**_

"_Nope. It's the truth, my old man gave it to me!" Tan-Lan grinned with pride, only for it to be wiped off his face at the thought of his grandfather. "Damn he must be pissed at me…."_

"_**What's your old man going to do to you anyways? Kill ya?"**_

"_Maybe, I kinda ran away from home… and stole the stone thing he used to become the emperor…" A silence fell after that while Greed's eyes scrunched up a bit at the information he just got._

"_**Wait emperor? How… is your old man named Ling?"**_

"_Yeah…?" Tan-Lan responded only to quirk a brow in confusion when Greed started laughing once again. "What?"_

"_**That piss ant couldn't let go could he?! HA, who knew he would name his son after me?!" **__Greed laughed as Tan-Lan blinked with a confused look on his face._

_**Why do I get the feeling this isn't a dream?**_ _Tan-Lan thought to himself for a second before deciding to speak up again. _

"_Actually, I'm his grandson." That got Greed to stop laughing before he stared at the fourteen year old before him for a bit with widened eyes. _

"_**... That so brat?"**_

"_Hey my name's not brat Greed!"_

Before he could continue the conversation with the weird entity Tan-Lan woke up.

"Tan-Lan!" Maria whispered loudly while shaking the prince awake. Said prince jumped up and pulled himself into a defensive position at being suddenly woken up. However when he noticed nothing was wrong… and it was still dark outside, Tan-Lan was not really happy.

"What's-"

"Shh. Not so loud, Jo-Jo is still sleeping," Maria cut the prince off before grabbing his hand and dragging him out of the storehouse.

"What the hell are you doing?"

"What's it look like going on a night adventure!" Maria chirped quietly only to receive a deadpanned look from Tan-Lan.

"Maria, stop."

"Huh?" The duo then stopped with the nine year old looking up at the older boy in confusion.

"It's late at night. I was trying to get some sleep and I don't want to go out 'adventuring' at this time of night. Besides your brother would be alone for one thing."

"Yeah then he won't ruin the adventures!"

"You have one unhealthy obsession! God why don't you just go take your brother and leave me alone huh?!" Tan-Lan shouted, loud enough that Joseph heard from the store house and woke up, and loud enough that Maria flinched at the tone of it.

"But… but you said you would take me on an adventure… and Xing people don't go back on their word… right?" Maria asked, looking up at the boy with a kicked puppy expression.

"I didn't promise that! I agreed to take you with me, but that was it! Look I just want to go back to sleep right now. I don't want to deal with this right now," Tan-Lan groaned just as Joseph came out and over to the duo.

"Maria, where did you think you were going this late at night?" Joseph growled just as the Xingese prince passed him and went back into the storehouse to get back to sleep.

...

Ling's worry was getting worst. None of his guards had found Tan-Lan near any of the stations, not to mention he lost contact with a few of the guards around one of the towns in the desert. Currently he's got a few guards looking for the missing ones and currently he's thinking about where the hell his grandson could be.

_He's somewhere in Amestris I know… but the question is where in Amestris? _Ling questioned deep in thought while feeling helpless once again in being able to do nothing… when suddenly an idea hit him. However said idea would have to be done with extreme caution… and be carefully crafted in order to work. That is if he had enough time to do that.

"Guards," the emperor spoke causing the guards to bow. "Go get Hai for me then leave the room as soon as he's here."

"Yes M'Lord!" both guards bowed and dashed out of the room to retrieve the first born of the twins.

...

The preparations had been completed, and the test had been successful. The group of Alchemists had created a philosopher's stone. Alicia gently held it in her hands with a growing grin.

"We succeeded! All those years of research, all those years of preparation for this moment," Alicia laughed, tears in the corners of her eyes as pride filled her heart.

"First stage of the plan is a success," another female researcher smiled as well, her foot grinding onto the left behind clothing of one of the people used from the village.

"If this turned out as a success… then… We can finally make what would normally be impossible now," Thomas laughed, the rest of the researchers continuing in joy about the success. All but Jack who sat back with a stern gaze.

_It's not even for our own use, _Jack thought bitterly, his face forming into a snarl. His gaze soon shifted right onto the glowing red stone in Alicia's hands.

_When stage two is finished that arrogant prince won't be the one in control anymore. I will be the one in control._

* * *

Yup lot's of heavy shit going on here... and some more plot build up. Now onto the next profile for the series:

Maria Reinhart:

Age: 9

Birthday: July 19th (Cancer)

Favorite food: Macaroni and cheese, also partial to steak and mashed potatoes

Least Favorite food: Vegetables

Family:Edward Elric (Grandfather), Winry Rockbell/Elric (Grandmother), Aleister Elric (Uncle), Gabe Elric (Uncle), Nina Elric (Mother), Kevin Reinhart (Father), Joseph Reinhart (Brother), Alphonse Elric (Great Uncle), Mei Chang/Elric (Great Aunt), Ya-Ting Elric (Cousin)

Dreams/Goals: To be a Military woman, Back up plan is to be an adventurer so she can travel around and explore everything.

Talents: Able to burn almost anything in cooking, fairly good aim

Weaknesses: Cooking… even when it's simple, impatient, very stubborn


End file.
